“Ceramic type” article of manufactures are used in a wide variety of applications and form many common articles used by the general public. Some non-limiting examples of these articles include toilet bowels and kitchen sinks. Particularly, such articles' are made by the use of traditional types of clay material which is generally formed into a desired shape and then placed within and heated by kilns. The heat causes the clay to harden and the hardened articles are then removed from the kiln, and “finished” by hand, and then conventionally coated with porcelain which is then baked onto the hardened clay article.
While the foregoing ceramic type articles do provide a desired function, they suffer from many drawbacks. For example, the foregoing article creation process is labor intensive, thereby greatly increasing the cost of producing these articles. Since the formed articles are relatively heavy, the labor costs cannot be economically reduced by creating the articles in a location, relatively far away from their intended use, where labor costs are inexpensive (i.e., while labor costs may be reduced, the shipping costs would greatly increase).
Further, the foregoing process also does not economically allow these conventional articles to be produced of greatly varying size and shapes and the required “hand finishing” oftentimes causes inadvertent damage and/or destruction to the formed article, thereby further increasing overall cost.
Particularly, by way of example and without limitation, ceramic articles are typically cast by the use of a two or three piece mold, and further require a “post curing” kiln process. The use of such a “multi-piece” mold and the foregoing kiln process, accounts for a relatively large and undesirable overall production or “cycle” time, relatively high production cost, relatively large production of “floor space”, and increases the likelihood of errant operation due to the multiple steps and apparatuses required to complete the overall article formation process. The foregoing process also further suffers from “material slump” as the dispensed material hardens within the mold, thereby further increasing the overall production cost as these hardened articles must typically be discarded and are of no further use.
There is therefore a need for a process, material strategy/technique, and apparatus to address the foregoing drawbacks such as, by way of example and without limitation, to reduce the occurrences and/or severity of, material slump, reduce overall production cycle time, eliminate the post curing kiln process, and eliminate the required porcelain application. There is a further need to provide such an improved process, material, and apparatus, and strategy/technique to the production of sinks, countertops, toilet fixtures, and other articles of manufacture which have traditionally been formed according to the previously delineated ceramic manufacturing technique and/or strategy. The foregoing needs are addressed and are fulfilled by the present invention, and the present invention may, in at least one embodiment, fulfill these needs by the use of an open casting mold.
There is therefore a need for a process, material, strategy/technique and apparatus to address the foregoing drawbacks such as, by way of example and without limitation, to reduce the occurrences and/or severity of material slump, reduce overall production cycle time, and eliminate the post curing kiln process. There is a further need to provide such an improved process, material, and apparatus to the production of sinks, countertops, toilet fixtures, and other articles of manufacture which have traditionally been formed according to the previously delineated ceramic manufacturing technique and/or strategy. The foregoing needs are addressed and fulfilled by the present invention, and the present invention may, in at least one embodiment, fulfill these needs by the use of an open casting mold.
In sum, there is therefore a need for a new and novel method and apparatus, materials and/or strategy/technique to produce articles of manufacture which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks associated with the production of these “ceramic type” articles and which may be used to produce articles to replace other “non-ceramic” types of articles.